Pastor Terry Jones Says Quran Burning Made Him a Target

Thursday

Sep 12, 2013 at 11:50 PM

Within hours of his release from the Polk County Jail, controversial minister Terry Jones said he believed he was targeted for arrest by law enforcement Wednesday as he drove through Mulberry toward a public park to burn 2,998 Qurans.

By SUZIE SCHOTTELKOTTETHE LEDGER

BARTOW | Within hours of his release from the Polk County Jail, controversial minister Terry Jones said he believed he was targeted for arrest by law enforcement Wednesday as he drove through Mulberry toward a public park to burn 2,998 Qurans."Absolutely, I think we were a target," he said. "That was their goal — whatever it took, whatever they could find — to stop us at any cost."Jones, 61, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Manatee County, and his associate pastor, Marvin Wayne Sapp, 44, were arrested Wednesday afternoon on a charge of unlawful conveyance of fuel because it wasn't in a proper container. At the time, they were in a truck pulling a trailer with a barbecue grill containing hundreds of kerosene-soaked Qurans.They were driving north on Church Avenue in Mulberry toward Loyce E. Harpe Park, about three miles away, where they planned to burn the Muslim holy books in recognition of the American victims who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa.Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Thursday he thought Jones might have been trying to get arrested."It was so obvious and so overt," he said. "First off, you don't have a tag on your trailer, which is a second-degree misdemeanor. Come on, man. It's kind of like he's poking at you. You have got to think he's doing that inten­tionally."Jones said he was prepared to go to jail for his convictions against Islam, but that wasn't his intent."That's just crazy," he said. "What we wanted to do was follow through with our demonstration."Jones also was arrested on a charge of openly carrying a firearm, which was in a holster on his belt, and Sapp faces allegations of having no registration for the trailer his truck was towing, according to Polk County Sheriff's Office records.Each posted a $1,250 bond and was released Thursday morning, jail records show.Jones said the night behind bars won't deter him from his mission to condemn Islam, and he might return to Polk County in that pursuit because he was arrested here. "We got a call today from someone in Polk County offering their property for our next event," he said. "If that's the case, we would definitely come back to the area because of this whole situa­tion."He said he thought the caller was from Bartow, but he didn't have any more information than that.Jones said Thursday he never knew about the law regarding fuel containment, and it wasn't his intention to allow his handgun, a 40-caliber, semi-automatic Smith and Wesson, to be seen.He said his organization had rented the barbecue grill and trailer from a rental agency at $100 a day and wasn't told it required a tag.Deputies impounded the trailer and grill, along with the Qurans and the cellphones and weapons Jones and Sapp were carrying. Jones said authorities returned Sapp's truck to him Thursday. Jones said he thought law enforcement was being heavy-handed in this case."Under normal conditions, you'd just give people a slap on the hand for something like this," he said. "I think these charges are far-reaching, if not drummed up."Judd said deputies had told Jones that after the county rejected his permit to hold the demonstration at the park, he would be arrested if he moved ahead with his plans.An hour before the planned demonstration, Jones said he would burn the Qurans — one for every American victim of the attacks — along the roadside near the park's entrance. He was stopped on his way there.Jones said Thursday he wasn't surprised that deputies knew where he was. He had agreed to let them put trackers on the two cars he brought to Polk County."They said they were concerned because we'd had death threats against us," he said. "I think from the very beginning, their intent was to monitor us. I feel a little deceived and lied to now. I don't know what to think of those people."

[ Suzie Schottelkotte can be reached at suzie.schottelkotte@theledger.com or 863-533-9070.]